Kakuei Tanaka

Kakuei Tanaka (4 May 1918-16 December 1993) was Prime Minister of Japan from 7 July 1972 to 9 December 1974, succeeding Eisaku Sato and preceding Takeo Miki. He was a member of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan.

Biography
Kakuei Tanaka was born in Nishiyama, Niigata Prefecture, Japan in 1918, and he was drafted into the Imperial Japanese Army in 1939 and served in Manchuria an enlisted clerk in a cavalry unit. He fell ill in 1941, and he was sent home on sick leave, and he never re-enlisted, leaving the army in October. Tanaka would marry into the upper class and become a businessman; fortunately for him, none of his buildings were damaged during the US bombing of Japan during World War II. In 1947, he was elected to the National Diet as a member of the Japan Democratic Party, and he joined the Liberal Party of Japan after the Democratic Party dissolved. In 1948, he was arrested for accepting bribes, but he would continue to win re-election to the National Diet after his railway workers came out to campaign for him, leading to landslides in elections. In 1957, he became Minister of Posts and Telecommunications in Nobusuke Kishi's government, and he later served as Finance Minister and Minister of International Trade and Industry. His popularity led to his becoming Prime Minister in 1972, and he normalized Japanese relations with China at the same time that President of the United States Richard Nixon did so. In 1974, Tanaka resigned after it was revealed that he had purchased a geisha and used her name in several shady dealings. Takeo Miki became the new PM, and Tanaka would again be able to remain in the National Diet even after being sentenced to prison for the Lockheed scandal, yet another corruption scandal. His faction was weakened by defections to Noboru Takeshita's faction during the 1980s, and poor health after a stroke forced him to leave politics. He died in 1993.